Sleeping Nico
by Willco
Summary: Basically a sleeping beauty AU with Solangelo. Probably going to be three chapters. Yeah, that's pretty much it. Peace.
1. Blessing Nico

**For all the people who had followed this story, SO SORRY. This is the actual chapter, the other is not. For all the people who just started this, ignore my rambling and read the story.**

 **So, in one of my 'too sleepy/lazy to get up, too awake to go back to sleep' moments, I started to daydream Solangelo (of course, what else would I do?) and this was born. Please review with what you think of it.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own PJO/HOO nor do I own Sleeping Beauty**

Once upon a time, there was a kingdom ruled by a king named Hades. He had a queen named Maria, and they had a young daughter by the name of Bianca. When Bianca was two years old, it was announced that Queen Maria was expecting again. When the kingdom heard the news, they rejoiced, for Queen Maria was a kind woman with a gentle heart.

When the announcement that the local village would be invited to the feast in honor of the child, they rejoiced even more. Many woman took their daughters to get new dresses for the event, and the men their sons. They could not wait for the event taking place in nine months...

"Maria, was it really necessary to invite the _entire_ village?"

"Yes dear, respect and love from a kingdom is incredibly important. It makes rebellion nonexistent." Hades sighed, he knew his wife was correct, if your subjects liked you, the more peaceful ruling would be. But that didn't mean that if war did come, King Hades would be defenseless. No, quite the opposite, the Underworldia kingdom had the largest army out of all of his brothers and sisters.

You see, back to when Hades was born, the world was ruled by Kronos and his wife, Rhea. But when Hades and his siblings were born, they took overthrew him and divided the land into twelve sections; Hades and Maria ruling over Underwoldia, Zeus and Hera lording Olympus, Poseidon Atlantis, Athena Owlcity **(too tempting)** , Apollo Poetopolis, Artemis Hunt, Demeter Cerealtopia, Ares Bloodax, Hephaestus and Aphrodite Forgesia, Dionysus Grapepeelia, Hermes Flyingshoe, and Hestia Hearthstone. They all had different special abilities to help them rule.

Hades sighed again. "Very well. Beside the village, who else?"

"Well, obviously your relatives."

"Why is that obvious?"

Maria smacked him playfully. "Because they're your _relatives."_

"If you insist." Honestly, Hades wouldn't mind if he only saw his family once more in his life, and that would only be to rub it in their faces.

"How many plates do we have?" Hades asked. The number of plates was important. If you invited to many people and didn't have enough plates, it could be taken as a sign of disrespect and might lead to war.

"I've done the math. Exactly enough for the entire village and your siblings."

Hades froze. Then, very carefully, asked "What about Gaea?"

The blood drained from Maria's face.

"Darling! Calm down, relax for the baby." Hades rushed to her and gently helped her to a chair.

"What are we going to do? We don't have enough plates for your grandmother!" Gaea was the mother of Kronos, ancient but extraordinarily powerful. Always in danger of starting a war. If she wasn't invited to the feast and she found out, the consequences could be devastating.

"We have no choice but to not invite her. On the invitation say not speak of this to the earth mother."

Maria bit her lip worriedly, glanced down at her stomach, then reluctantly nodded. "I'll arrange the change."

"Maria," Hades whispered. "I don't like it anymore then you do." Maria nodded again sadly.

 _NINE MONTHS LATER..._

"I bless you with eyes drownable in." Queen Aphrodite touched baby Nico on the forehead and glowed a dim pink. On his throne, King Hades of Underworldia rolled his eyes. Only Queen Aphrodite could think of such a shallow blessing to give the newborn prince at the Blessing Ceremony.

Then again, his other siblings weren't that much better. Apollo blessed him with an amazing singing voice, and Poseidon a way with horses. The only interesting ones were Athena's, Artemis', Ares', and his. Athena blessed him with incredible knowledge, Artemis gave him the ability to never lose his way in the wilderness, Ares made him able to use any weapon flawlessly, and Hades gave his son the ability to raise the dead, so that no matter where he was, he would always have someone.

Even if that someone was a decaying zombie. Hey, it's the thought that counts.

The blessings continued like this, the only odd one out was Hera's, the ability to control shadows. Hades grudgingly admitted that it was a pretty cool ability, especially if it meant that Prince Nico could shadow travel, a rare ability.

Hestia-the last Blesser- was just walking up to the cradle in front of the king's, queen's, and princess' throne when the doors to the hall shattered, sending splinters flying. The sound of metal on metal filled the air as men drew their swords. Then yelps as the men sank to their waists in gooey mud.

Rose thorns began to creep out from where the doors once stood. Then Gaea stepped through.

Dressed in a green dress, and bare foot, she might have been mistaken for any old villager, but her eyes set her apart. They held such malevolence that the children whimpered and hid. That and the fact they were pure green.

"A party?" She asked, looking around. "And am I not invited?"

"Grandmother," Hades stood. "I welcome you."

"And yet I was not invited to my great-grandson's Blessing Ceremony. How is that welcoming?"

Hades swallowed nervously. He did not like the way this was going. Not at all. "There weren't enough plates, Grandmother. If you wish, though, you may stay for the rest of the Ceremony."

"I do wish. I also wish to bless the child myself."

Hades glanced nervously at Maria, who shook her head the slightest bit. Next to her sat Bianca, who must've been scared out her mind, but was acting calm. A surge of pride welled in Hades, and turned back to Gaea. Unfortunately, she had noticed Maria's disapproval.

"You would deny me the chance to bless the child?" She sounded incredulous. "My own great-grandson?"

No answer.

"Very well." Gaea snapped her fingers, and everyone standing up-so basically everyone but Queen Maria and Princess Bianca-sank to their shoulders in mud. "If you deny me my right to bless the child, I'll simply curse him."

"No!" Maria cried, and ran toward Gaea.

With a look of contempt, Gaea waved her hand and thick roots burst out of the ground, wrapping around the queen.

"Maria!"

"Oh, do shut up, grandson. You're all talk and no action."

"No action? Gaea, I assure you, if you so much as _think_ about cursing my child, I guarantee you war."

"Hm," she glanced at him. "I'll have to take you up on that offer." Gasps rolled across the hall. _Nobody_ declared war with somebody in their own hall. Normally the guards would already have the person in chains. Unfortunately, the guards were currently busy trying to dig themselves out of holes in the ground.

Gaea strode to Prince Nico, who blinked up at her with wide eyes. "So innocent. Yes, I have a nice curse in mind." Gaea opened her hand over Nico, and as she spoke a white ball with hints of green appeared. "I curse you, child, to a short life. You shall abandon your family, and die without saying goodbye." She started to blow the ball over to Nico, and it was almost to him when a cry filled the room.

"NO!" Bianca ran forward and intercepted the curse. The room exploded in the same color the ball was. When the light faded, Bianca, eyes wide with terror, collapsed into a heap. Only the rise and fall of her chest showed that she was alive.

"What have you done?!" Queen Maria wailed. Gaea blinked in shock, but quickly recovered.

"She took the curse to save her brother. Pity," Gaea nudged Bianca's unconscious form. "She could've had a long life."

"Grandmother," Hades' voice was heavy with grief. "You cursed my child. Please. Take your leave."

Gaea looked back up at him. "Ah, but I came here for that one." She pointed at Nico. "This one," now at Bianca. "Simply got in my way. Let's see, can't give the boy the same curse now. That would be boring." She turned to Hera. "You gave him the power over shadows, did you not?"

Hera didn't answer.

"Well, you did." She turned back to the prince of Underworlia and began her curse. Hades struggled against the dirt, but it was like swimming in syrup. "I curse you to forever be an outcast, to wander the earth alone. On your fourteenth birthday, your use of shadows shall backfire and you shall be consumed by the very power you control. You will fade into oblivion."

"Grandmother, I beg of you, do not do this to my child, he has done nothing to you." Hades pleaded with her. Gaea, about to blow the curse at Nico, paused.

"You beg of me?" She sounded amused. "The king of Underworlia _begs_ it of me?"

Hades glanced at Queen Maria uncertainly. She nodded. "Y-yes. I... beg it of you to spare my son."

"Very well." Hades' eyes widened. This was not like Gaea to be merciful.

"On his fourteenth birthday, he will not immediately fade away. If his true love-be it of the past, present, or future- kisses him before sundown on that day, he will live." Outraged gasps filled the air. Allowing the prince a mere day-no _less_ then a day for his true love to come, that was impossible. The curse descended on the young prince, and the room flashed again.

Gaea swirled around, and walked back to the remains of the door. As she stepped through the doorway, roots slammed up from the ground, curled around her, and pulled her underground.

Silence fell upon the hall. The earth solidified again, though nobody moved, stunned.

Finally, Hestia pulled herself up out of the ground. She walked silently over to King Hades and offered him a hand. Staring numbly at where his children laid, he took it, allowing himself to be pulled out of the dirt by his oldest sister.

"I cannot save the girl," Hestia spoke, barely more then a whisper, but the words rolled over the silent hall.

"And I cannot revoke the boy's curse. However," Hades whipped his head to her, eyes wide with hope.

"However, I can lessen it."

"Lessen it... how?" Hades voice was weak and slightly desperate.

Hestia walked slowly over to the cradle.

"Child. My Blessing to you is this: instead of a mere day for your true love to find you, I now extend it to seventy years." A ball appeared, but instead of white and green that gave off a malevolent vibe, it glowed a cheery orange, like the flames of a warm hearth.

"Please," Hades whispered. "Do something about the outcast part."

Hestia nodded sadly. "You will only become an outcast when," she sighed heavily. "When your sister passes away, and it shall be revoked on your fourteenth birthday, while you struggle between the world of the living and the world of the shadows. This is my Blessing." Instead of a bright flash, the hall's temperature rose, not uncomfortably, but warm enough that the cold hate from Gaea's visit faded some.

Hestia turned to Hades. "This is the best I can do."

Hades nodded. "Thank you sister." He turned to the children, who were beginning to stir.

"We have things to prepare."

 **BOOM! First chapter! Tell me if this is worth continuing. Please?**

 **(Sorry again for any confusion)**


	2. Sleeping Nico

**Okay, I'm gonna change some of the things that are in the book, but that's why it's called an** _ **AU**_ **. They are necessary to the plot, so tough cookies. There might be a little angst, but not to much because it makes me sad to write angsty Nico. I so much prefer little Nico and end-of-BoO Nico.**

Sleeping Nico

Dispite all the rumors, nine year old Nico was having a great life. Of course he had heard about the curses on him and his sister, but what did moping about it do? At least, that's what Bianca told him whenever he asked, so of course it was true. True, he wasn't allowed to hang out with the village boys most of the time, and when he did, most of them kept away, scared of the curse put on him at his Blessing Cemerony-which still confused Nico, if it was for _Blessings,_ why did he and Bianca get _cursed?_ However, he had Bianca-who was more then enough- and he also had whoever he wanted to summon, as long as they were dead.

No one would tell him what their curses were (though Bia seemed to know, she wouldn't tell him), no matter how many times he begged, so he had no qualms using his power for fun, and got in trouble many times for scaring the maids by shadow traveling right in front them while they're delivering random things to different places in the castle. Nico got chided many times from Bianca about that, but what was the point of having an amazing super power like in his games if not to use it?

Geez, people were so uptight sometimes.

Everything changed when he was ten.

It started innocently enough. He and Bianca were playing in the West Wing per usual, with Mama and Papa (Queen Maria and King Hades in public) watching. Nico was playing Hide 'n Seek with Bia, who was playfully yelling at him, calling him a cheater for dissolving into shadows whenever she found him and appearing in a new spot.

Mama and Papa seemed to be in an arguement about the war. Nico frowned. Lately, he'd been able to summon a lot more kids his age. They all had the same story, their village had been attacked by Gaea's son, Kronos. He wasn't as bad as Gaea, but he caused a lot damage.

Nico had been so far off into his thoughts, he didn't notice that Bianca had snuck up behind him until she jabbed him below the ribs, sending him squealing away from her, but she kept up and kept tickling him.

"Caught you!" Bia exclaimed.

"N-n-no, you-u d-didn't!" Nico protested, trying to roll to a shadow to escape the tickle attack, but Bianca was careful to keep him close to all the light so that he had no choice but to accept being tickled. When she eventually ceased her assult, she flopped down next to him.

"I wiiiiiiin," she sang at Nico, who stuck his tongue out at her.

"Watch the children," Nico heard Mama say to Papa, then left the room. Nico turned and grinned at Papa, who smiled faintly back, though he still looked worried about something.

Then Nico's smile turned into a frown. Something was off with the air. Papa's eyes widened.

"NO!" A dark shadow, darker then any Nico could create, surrounded him and Bia. Even with the shadow though, the expolsion that came next shattered the world.

A light-so bright it almost took away the shadow-blasted Nico's eyes. The ground shook, and it took all Nico's concentration to keep his footing on the unstable floor.

"Nico!" Bianca's voice cut through the noise, but barely. Then it was over. The light faded, and the ground stopped moving.

"Nico!" Bia grabbed him and pulled him into a hug, he hardly realized that the shadow covering them disappeared.

Then Bianca gasped. Nico looked up, worried. Bia was staring at something just over Nico's shoulder. Concerned, Nico turned. And all the blood drained from his face.

Mama was laying on the floor, unmoving. Papa was kneeling next to her, screaming at the sky.

Unable to watch the scene, Nico turned and hugged Bianca tightly. He surveyed the room. It was completey ruined. What had once been a wonderful playing hall was now a barren wreck. There were minor fires burning what used to be the elegent tapestries, and the walls were falling, breaking down.

Nico buried his face in Bianca's shoulder and sobbed.

~O~

"It is worth it, trust me." Zoe **(It won't let me spell Zoe correctly)** told Bianca, as Nico watched incredously.

Bia looked torn. _And she's about to refuse,_ Nico thought, though with a lot less certainty then he would've a few months ago. After Uncle Zeus killed Mama-along with many other servants- in an act of revenge against Papa (he had the misleading idea that when Gaea had cursed Nico and Bianca, it hastened, maybe even sparked, the war that now raged across the land) Nico had lost a lot of faith in his "family," though he knew Bianca would _never_ just abandon him like these Hunters were suggesting.

"Alright. What do I do?" Nico's jaw dropped. He had to be hearing things. Bia would _never_ do this, abondon him, leave him at the great big castle with the husk that had become his Papa. Why would Bianca do this? The explosion changed all of them, true, but Bia was his constant, his North Star. There was _no way_ she would leave him.

Zoe told Bianca an oath, but Nico could barely hear it over the roaring of blood in his ears. After Bia finished repeating whatever it was she had to say, she turned to a young girl with auburn hair.

"Can I... say goodbye?"

The girl nodded in confirmation. Realizing what Bia's plan was, Nico hightailed it back to the castle. If Bianca learned that he had been spying on her when she said explicitly not to, Nico was dead. Running to a shadow, he quickly traveled back into the main hall, and started to manipulate the shadows, pretending that he had been doing that all along.

When Bia strode into the hall, he stopped what he was doing and turned to her, plastering a fake smile on his face, though he wanted to throw up.

"Hey Nico?" Bianca looked like she was glowing.

"Yeah Bia?" Thank God for all the acting lessons that Mama had made him take.

"I need to tell you something. You know how lately I've been taking longer walks then usual? Yeah, well I've been meeting with some girls from Hunt, and they've asked me join them." Of course Nico knew about the girls from Hunt. Bia didn't know, but he hid in the shadows while Bia went on her "walks".

"Join them... how?" His voice was careful. He didn't want to give away the fact that he knew exactly what joining the Hunt meant, though he didn't understand part of what them were talking about, and the first meeting he wasn't there. He only started following her on the second meeting, and there were many things that did not make sense.

"Well, it means going back to Hunt with them, and-"

"What do you mean, 'going back to Hunt'? When would you come back home?" Nico's tone was harsh.

"Whenever we are needed here. I will stay with the Hunt."

"You're needed here _now_. _I_ need you here."

"Nico, you need to grow up sometime. I'm making my own desicions now, so should you. I'm not always going to be there when you need me, you have to learn to depend on yourself."

"You're my sister, I always need you!"

"Nico! This is my desicion to make! I won't always be around to make your desicions for you!"

The two siblings glared at each other. Then Bianca softened.

"Look, I'll visit. This is my part of the war that's going on. The Hunters do little missions to stop Kronos. It'll be like the war games we played." Nico sure didn't _think_ it was like the games they played. Even at ten, he knew that war was dangerous. All the dead friends he'd made since the start of the war proved that. He glared and turned his back.

~O~

"NO!" Nico dropped the glass of water he was holding as a sharp-almost painful-buzz shot through his head. As the glass fell, he felt his heart shatter like the shards of the sparkling glass skidding across the cold marble floor. It was like the glass was a twisted metaphor...

"No. No-" It couldn't be...

"BIANCA!" Nico screamed sheer terror running through his blood.

"Bianca..." Nico whimpered, stumbling backwards until his back hit the wall, slumping to the floor. His skin numbed from the frigid floor, his whole body consumed by pure terror. Images of olive skin and caring eyes and fleeting warm smiles flashed through his mind.

"No."

"NO."

The lights flickered and died as Nico was consumed by the shadows.

~O~

"She wanted you to have this..." Percy Jackson handed Nico a small figurine. Nico felt tears streaming down his face, all memories of his sister flooding back to him tainted by the pain of her death. He tried not to think about her, but everytime he saw a dog, he was reminded that dogs are descendents of wolves. Hunters partner with wolves. Bianca left him to be a hunter, then she left him for good. Every time he saw a tree, he was reminded how Bianca became hunter among the _trees._ Whenever Nico saw a stone, he was reminded of the mossy stone of the castle courtyard where he played with _Bianca._ He gingerly took the little metal figure in his hand, and clutched it close to his broken heart.

"You promised you would protect her." Nico's voice quivered with rage. Percy flinched, but Nico didn't care. Percy had promised, but he failed. He had _failed,_ and now Bianca was _gone,_ and she _wasn't coming back._

"Nico," he said, like apologizing would make it better, like a simple "I'm sorry" would bring Bia back. "I tried." No, he didn't. If he had _actually_ tried, Bianca would still be here, still be breathing. "But Bianca gave herself up to save the rest of us. I told her not to. But she-"

"You promised!" Nico's voice cracked with rage. Here Percy Jackson stood, the hero that Nico had trusted with his sister's life, and he was telling him that he _tried?_ He didn't _try,_ he _failed._ The hero that Nico looked up to, the hero that wasn't a hero at all.

"I shouldn't have trusted you." He should've learned by now that he couldn't trust anyone, not even his own _sister_ cared enough about him to stay with him. _This is my part of the war that's going on,_ Bia had said. _So your part is dying?_ Nico thought, tears welling rapidly.

Suddenly he coulnd't bear to be touching the statue. Bianca wanted him to have a _statue?_ _That_ was what she died for? A stupid, metal _figurine?_ A part of a stupid, silly _game?_ He threw it down.

"I hate you!" But even as he said the words, Nico knew he didn't mean them. That was one of the worst parts, that he couldn't even make himself hate the person who was responsible for his sister's death, that he had to have sick, twisted feelings for the _boy_ that killed her.

He ran back to the castle of cold stone, as cold as he felt inside, knowing that there was nothing, absolutely _nothing_ he could do. His last time talking to his only sister, his only true confidant, and he had yelled at her, fought with her. _I didn't even say good-bye..._

~O~

Three weeks after the death of Princess Bianca, who had ran off to Hunt, but still loved by many, Thalia Grace, the new lieutenant for the group of girls running around getting sisters killed while pretending to help, approached the prince of Underworldia. Since the princess had died, Prince Nico rarely left the castle. The one time he did, however, anyone who saw him drew back in fear. Whispers followed him, talking of how he was evil, someone who would use his powers to lash out at anyone who dared talk to him, or even look at him for too long.

But the truth was, Prince Nico felt broken.

Everyone who had ever loved him was dead, or in the case of his father-no longer his papa-so distant he was as good as dead. King Hades, a little distant even before the deaths of his wife and daughter, had only become more so. The only time he would talk was if directly spoken to-sometimes not even then-or if there was a question regrding the status of his kingdom.

Nico was a curse, and he stayed hidden in his room to protect anyone from getting contaminated from him.

It worked. Even the chamber maids had taken to leaving whatever they had to deliver to him outside the door, and only came in to clean when Prince Nico went on his weekly walk around the castle halls, trailing his hand along the walls, lost in the memories of when his guardian angel was alive, and when he went down for meals around a cold, silent table.

The worst part was that Bianca wouldn't even come. Every day he tried to summon her, but she would never come. It cut at Nico. The fact that Bia didn't even care enough to come, to actually confirm what Percy-he hated the himself for his speeding heartbeat whenever he thought of that _horrible_ name he could never _get out of his head-_ had said. The fact his _own sister_ refused to talk to him even once.

But Thalia dared. She walked right into the castle as if she owned the place, and the guards didn't even stop her. She barged into Nico's room, and didn't even bother with the bow that most people did for the royal di Angelo family, once out of respect, now out of fear.

Instead, she merely said "I'm sorry about Bianca. I really am." Nico glared at her. She wasn't _actually_ sorry. No one was. They only wanted to say that they were 'sorry for his loss,' like that actually _meant_ something, like it would help bring Bia back to him.

"But she would've wanted you to know that she knew what would happen. She wasn't sure when, but she knew it would happen. She would've wanted you to know about the curses. Ask King Hades. You also need to know about the gods." Then she walked out after saying those nonsensical words. Gods? Nico had no idea what she was talking about.

 _What if Bianca really did want me to know?_ Nico wasn't at all convinced that Thalia knew Bia well enough to know what she would want, but the fact remains that maybe she was right and that Bianca would want him to know the truth, whatever it was.

And the curses had been bothering him ever since he heard about them. _Well,_ the prince of Underworldia thought bitterly. _There's no harm in trying._

~O~

"Father, I want to know about the curses Gaea placed on me and Bianca." Nico said calmly, while on the inside he was panicking. Since three weeks ago, the only time they talked was when Nico seeked comfort from his father, only to get a snarled "It should've been you" in return.

"Why should I tell you?" His voice was cold, like a dagger made of ice.

Nico took a deep breath. "Because it's what she would've wanted." There was a silent standoff as the heir to the throne glared at the current ruler who returned it with just as much intensity.

Finally King Hades broke it and huffed as he looked away. "You have much of Maria in you." The words sounded sweet, but his tone was unforgiving, as if being like his dead mother was a terrible sin.

"You want to know about the curses? Very well. At your Blessing Ceremony, Gaea came, infuriated that she hadn't been invited." Hades' voice was barbed, as if this was the young prince's fault.

"She was going to curse you to live a short life, abandon your family and die without saying goodbye, but your sister sacrificed herself to save _you."_ He spat out the last word like it was poison.

Nico's head was spinning. _Die without saying goodbye. Bianca._ It was his fault. If Gaea hadn't been trying to cursing him, Bianca wouldn't have had to try and save him. _His fault._

There was just one thing...

"What about mine?"

"What?"

"What about my curse? You told me Bianca's, _what about mine?"_

"Of course. It's always about _you._ _You're_ the reason all this happened, and all you care about is yourself. Probably think that by knowing you'll be able to change it, avoid your fate." Nico flinched. Father's voice was cold, hard, condemning.

"Very well, I'll tell you. It would have been better, had Bianca been the one to live, but I cannot change that now.

"You were cursed to be an outcast, that no one would want you. When you're fourteen, you will be consumed by shadows. Only if your _true love -_ as if anyone would fall in love with _you_ \- finds you within seventy years -you'll stop aging when you're in limbo- and kisses you will you be awoken and live again." Now Father scoffed, it was obvious that he did not believe that his son would ever find true love in time to survive.

Thoughts were swimming randomly around Prince Nico's head. _Outcast. Consumed by shadows. No one wants you. Seventy years. Outcast. You deserve it. You killed your sister._ The last words Thalia said suddenly burned like red hot metal in the young prince's mind.

"And what of the gods?"

The effect was immediate. King Hades whirled his head around faced his son, eyes ablaze with the most intensity he's had since the death of his wife.

" _How do you know of the gods?"_ Hades thundered. The look in his eye was frightening. Nico almost faltered, but lifted his head in defiance.

"Nevermind that, what of them?" The young prince was incredibly stubborn. He wanted -no, _needed_ \- this information, and he was going to get it.

The king curled his lip. "You dare tell me what to do?" Nico didn't answer.  
"Very well. I hope this knowledge destroys you."

~O~

"Reyna! Down!" Reyna dropped just as a spear flew over her head, skimming her hair.

"Thanks!" Nico didn't waste his breath answering, instead slicing at another monster that was brandishing its weapon,


	3. Awakening Nico

**Okay, so funny story time. School got out, but for our final language arts project, we were supposed to write a story, and since I had mostly finished this one I just decide to change the names and stuff, so if you catch any mistakes (like me refering to Cecil as a female (I genderbent him) or something like that,) please don't attack me for it, I probably just didn't see it while I was changing everything back to the way it was supposed to be.**

 **Oh, I also changed a little thing about Will, as you'll see. This isn't actually one of my headcanons, but Will's name was William (Creative, I know) and I wrote this cute thing so I just decided to keep it.**

 _Years later…_

"Hurry!" William gasped, his breathing laboured as he helped Cecil pull Lou Ellen through the expansive woods, his battle senses still on high, making him notice every detail about the forest he and his friends were racing through, running away from the Romans that had given Lou Ellen the cut on her leg that he had hurriedly tied with a strip of his own shirt as Cecil used his trickster skills to distract the bloodthirsty rival god spawns. The six Romans had noticed them while they were scouting the weapons that the Romans had been preparing to launch at Camp Half-Blood in three weeks time.

It was probably the adrenaline rushing through his blood and his heart pumping double its usual tempo, but William could swear he heard sticks snapping and dry leaves crunching behind him, and that gave him the energy to help haul his best friend along with the help of the third member of their friendship trio.

Cecil stopped in her tracks. "We lost them."

William huffed to a stop. "You sure?" Not that he doubted his friend's abilities, but Cecil had a bit of a track record for claiming his skills were better than they were.

"We lost them around the grove, I kept us running just to make sure that they weren't planning to cut us off. They know the terrain better than us, and there might've been a path that Lord High Horse knew that we don't." William internally rolled his eyes. His friend was of course referring to Octavian, a descendant of Apollo-he shuddered to think that he was related to such a person- who turned renegade, created Camp Jupiter, and somehow convinced all his followers that the best way to heal the gods that were going through a war with themselves as their consciences battled their normal arrogant selves.

"We need to find shelter. I need to heal Lou Ellen's leg better, and we need a place to stay for the night." As he talked, William began walking, a little awkwardly since he was now fully supporting the half-unconscious Lou Ellen's weight, but he managed to bat away the thorny bushes digging into his skin.

"I doubt we'll find any safe places around here. According to the map, there's nothing around for mi…" Cecil's voice trailed off as his eyes followed the path William had created in the bushes. On the top of a hill, a great stone castle dominated the skyline. In the middle, there was a tower reaching up to the sky with a pointed tip, with other smaller sharp tipped towers lining it. William couldn't tell from this distance if there was moat, but the ominous doom and gloom vibe it was sending out seemed to keep away any visitors.

"Woah." Cecil breathed, clearly in as much awe as William, who managed to blink off his astonishment and start dragging Lou Ellen- who was currently mumbling nonsense about a couple of Romans she managed to curse to become piglets- up the path to the castle.

"Wait! William!" Cecil grabbed William's arm, holding him in place. "We can't go there!" Before he could protest the absurdity of that sentence, Cecil plowed on. "I-I think that's the di Angelo castle." Fear was plainly displayed on his face, and he bit her lip lightly, clearly nervous, though William didn't see anything particularly worrying about that statement. Cecil seemed to sense this, and in a disbelieving tone continued.

"Di Angelo? You know, the haunted castle that Hades lived in about seventy years ago, before all the gods went all 'Kaboom! We exist! Feed us live chickens and you shall not perish!' You don't remember learning about that?"

"I don't believe in ghosts." Cecil snorted. "And besides, Lou Ellen needs medical attention. This seems like the closest place around that can give us shelter. I know it's not ideal," William added when he saw the dubious expression on Cecil's face. "But it's the best we're going to get for now."

Cecil still didn't look convinced, but nodded anyway.

"C'mon." William shifted Lou Ellen's weight to a more comfortable position as he started up the hill to the castle.

~O~

"This place is… just wow." Cecil seemed to have shed his skin of worry and doubt and now kept turning around, looking at the inside of the colossal palace. William shared his views entirely. They stood in the middle of what looked like the dining hall- despite what Cecil had said earlier, he actually did pay attention during the lessons Annabeth taught to him at Camp Half-Blood. Though it looked like nobody had stepped foot inside of the castle since the gods outed themselves to the world- which was probably true- the ceiling was sloped at an elegant angle with the very top a slit of window, so it looked like you were staring through a tunnel. Then again, William mused, Hades is the god of the light at the end of life. He decided the ceiling was only fitting. The walls were coated in dust covered tapestries that William could tell if they were properly cleaned they would rival Aneta's, the goddess of tapestries, among others skills.

A soft moan of pain that escaped Lou Ellen snapped William back to reality.

"C'mon Cecil, we need to find a place to rest." Stumbling through a doorway- the dining room provided much too little cover if they got attacked by monsters- they emerged in what seemed to be the kitchen. Like the dining room, everything was covered in a thick layer of dust from lack of use. It was much less than the dining room, all it really had in it was the cooking utensils the servants would use; the stove, the cupboards, the pans and pots hanging off the wall, and, most importantly, there was a large table in the middle of the room, large and sturdy enough to hold a person.

"Help me, Cecil." William, with the assistance of Cecil, knocked everything off so it, then picked Lou Ellen completely off of the floor and placed her gently onto the table. He turned to his uninjured friend.

"Cecil, can you go scout? Make sure we won't get attacked by monsters if we stay here?" He nodded in conformation and ran off. "And don't steal anything!" He called after him. He only laughed in response. William sighed, Cecil, along with the rest of Hermes' offspring, had a bad record with stealing. Unfortunately for William, Cecil was really quite good at that, so he had to constantly tell him to _put the man's wallet back already! Gods Cecil, you're exhausting._

He sighed and turned to Lou Ellen. "C'mon. Let's get you fixed up."

William began singing a prayer to his father, Apollo, to help him heal his best friend. About halfway through his song, Lou Ellen blinked her eyes open.

"Where are we? I sense magic." Her voice was weak, but it was reassuring to hear. He finished his song then spoke.

"Shh, don't talk. The magic is my healing. We're in a castle, Cecil called it the di Angelo palace." Her eyes widened in panic.

"No! This place," she glanced around wildly. "It- I mean- this place- no one's ever left here alive since the gods revealed themselves! This was the palace of Hades!" William's eyes widened comically. Hades was one of the most feared gods, he ruled over the dead and the dying, and it was rumored that Gaea, the goddess that Camp Half-Blood was fighting, though they recently had to spend most of their energy on making sure Camp Jupiter didn't destroy them, had a vendetta against him, and would stop at nothing to destroy him and his offspring. Hades didn't have any children that anyone knew of, but if he did, then most god spawn William knew would avoid them like the plague, not wanting to get caught in the wrath that Gaea would be sure to send against them to hurt Hades.

William wasn't one of them. He wasn't someone who would condemn someone just because of something that they might do or what someone might do to them.

"It's okay. Cecil's scouting the perimeter. Just relax so I can heal you." Lou Ellen didn't seem to like this suggestion much, but did as she was told.

William got so caught up in his healing, which pretty much consisted of rebinding the makeshift bandage with a new, cleaner strip of his shirt now that he already stop the bleeding and just wanted to make sure nothing got into the wound, that he didn't notice Cecil return to the room until he was five feet away, puffing desperately for breath. "William! Y-You need to-to see this!" He doubled over, clutching his stomach for breath, chest heaving.

"Cecil! What's wrong?" William put his hand on his friend's shoulder, and pulled him up.

"N-Nothing! Well," Cecil drew in a long breath. "Maybe something. You need to see this."

"Lou Ellen shouldn't walk…"

"Then leave me," she piped in.

William glared at her. "And we're not separating."

Lou Ellen rolled her eyes. "I can walk. Your voodoo healing powers-" William made a noise of protest but she just rolled over his voice. "Healed me enough so that I can walk, and if I can't, I'll just cast a spell on myself so I levitate. Can I do that? Let's try." Before William could protest or, better yet, strap her to the table so she doesn't go running off cliffs trying to fly, she jumped off the table, stumbled a little into Cecil who steadied her, then pulled away blushing.

"Lead on, Cecil." Cecil turned and began jogging slightly to wherever it was he was taking them that got him so nervous.

It turned out that whatever it was, it was far away. They went through a ruined great hall- William was tempted to stop and examine what could've happened, but Cecil rarely got scared, so this must be important- up a winding stone staircase- William noticed Lou Ellen getting paler and paler the more they climbed-, and through tens of long, endless hallways until they got to an opened door.

Cecil swallowed. "This is it." He bit his lip and walked into the room, treading apprehensively to the bed. William followed, he wanted to know what got his friend so skittish. He didn't have his sword drawn, so he evidently didn't think there was any danger, but ever since he found this room something was plainly bothering him.

Now intrigued, William crept to the bed. Cecil's fear must have rubbed off on him, as he noticed his shoulders were tense as they were while he was reattaching Paolo's arms back at Camp Half-Blood after he somehow managed to get them but off by a bladed Frisbee. He forced them to relax as he and Lou Ellen approached the bed.

Lou Ellen gasped as soon as they got within sight of what was on the bed. Or rather, _who_ was on it.

A pale boy lay there, pitch hair in a shaggy cut that was swept over his face. He seemed about William and his friend's age, and with his eyes shut and peaceful expression, it looked like he was simply sleeping. Then, as William was watching, something changed. Like a cloud had just passed over the sun, shadows began streaming from the corners of the room. It collected around the boy like fruit flies to wine. Certain parts of him, his legs, his arms, seemed to completely become shadow, and faded to smoke like the rest of him. The boy became restless, losing that peaceful expression as his brow furrowed and he tossed in his sleep, seeming like he was trying to fight off the darkness and losing.

"What the…" William couldn't finish the sentence. Just as soon as it came, the shadows disappeared. The boy stopped thrashing and returned once again to the blissful sleep that he'd been in when William had entered the room, even paler then before.

"He's done that a lot." Cecil's voice jolted him back to reality. "When I first came in, the room was filled with light. I found this note, but I can't read it. It's in a language that I've never before." He gestured to the bedside table. On it was an old scrap of paper yellow with time and an old lamp like one they used in the 1940s.

Lou Ellen bent at it to take a closer look. She picked up the note, but it crackled and almost broke, so she set it down hurriedly. Her eyes widened.

"This is in the Ancient Language!" At William's and Cecil's confused looks, she sighed and elaborated. "You, know, the ones the gods spoke back when the world knew them as powerful leaders and not as gods?"

William thought that was pretty much the same thing, but the look in Lou Ellen's eye made him not want to question her explanation.

"Yeah, but that was like, a million years ago," Cecil complained.

Lou Ellen flicked her. "Check your math, doofus. It was only seventy years ago."

"Is that not the same thing?"

"What does the note say?" William interrupted the impending argument, getting back on track.

Lou Ellen huffed and turned back to the note. "Um… Something about how this is Prince Nico of Underworldia, and he was cursed. He's fourteen and his birthday is January 28, 1932. Wait, what?" Lou Ellen stopped reading out loud and read silently, mumbling the words. "Oh wow. Okay." She glanced up at her two best friends. "He was born in 1932 with power over shadows, but he was cursed to have that power backfire and destroy him on the inside out on his fourteenth birthday. The gods managed to make sure that he had the opportunity to survive, so they made it so that he had seventy years before the shadows completely overwhelmed and destroyed him. But the only way to wake him up is, well, the note's hard to read. Something about his true love of the future, past, or present."

William's jaw was slack. This kid… Nico... he's tough. "Who cursed him?" Why would someone curse him?

Lou Ellen glanced at the ground nervously. "G-Gaea. She cursed him at birth."

"Oh my gods…" Cecil whispered.

William's mind whirled with this new information. "He's a prince? Doesn't that mean he's god spawn? I thought only gods were royalty back then. How come he's in this castle? Wasn't this…" His voice trailed off. He turned back to the boy laying peacefully on the bed. "Hades's castle…" He turned to his friends. Lou Ellen nodded grimly.

"That's who the note is signed by. It also has an apology saying that he only acted that way because Nico was cursed to be an outcast after Bianca- whoever that is- died, and on his fourteenth birthday it got removed. Apparently Hades regrets every word he told Nico, and wants the chance to apologize more than anything in the world."

"What's he talking about?"

Lou Ellen shrugged "Dunno. They probably got into a fight after this Bianca girl died and it was because of his curse. Also, according to this note, he's the reason we have that statue of Athena that protected Camp Half-Blood from being destroyed while the heroes from back then were defeating Kronos."

The room filled with shadow again and William could hear him shaking in turmoil on the bed. William hated to see an injury he couldn't heal, but it seemed like this one was one of those.

"Wait, he was born 1932, right?" Lou Ellen nodded. "Then his fourteenth birthday was 1946. Add seventy years from that and you get 2016. That's this year." Cecil stared at him in horror. "January 28. Today's January 13. According to this note, if his true love doesn't rescue him within fifteen days, he'll die."

~O~

It turns out that Lou Ellen cannot, in fact, levitate, as they found out as they walked back to the kitchen, dumbstruck by the new information they had just realized. Lou Ellen had collapsed, but when William tried to pick her up and carry her back to the kitchen, Lou Ellen waved him off, telling him he'd done enough to help her already, and instead insist that Cecil carry her bridal style through the halls, the great hall, and the dining room until they got to the kitchen. ("What good is being the daughter of the goddess of magic if I can't levitate?" Lou Ellen huffed.)

Finally, after they had made a makeshift camp with the blankets Cecil had stripped from one of the bedrooms before he had found the pitch-haired boy, they started talking about Nico- _Prince_ Nico, William mentally chided himself, he's royalty.

"Do you think his true love'll find him?" William asked right off the bat. It seemed horrible how Nico had been condemned to have his power turn on him when he was born, before anyone even knew what kind of person he would be.

"Does true love even exist?" Cecil immediately countered. "What if it isn't possible to save him, simply because the cure doesn't exist?"

"Well, I think true love exists," Lou Ellen shot back at him, with a red tint on her face. _Could these guys be any more obvious?_

"If it does exist, then do you think his'll find him?" William brought the discussion back to the topic on hand.

"William, it looks like we're the last people who've stepped foot into this place since Nico's fourteenth birthday," Cecil said in a softer tone, perhaps sensing his friend's distress. "If his true love finds him and manages to do whatever they need to do within the fifteen days left, Nico would need to be the luckiest prince in history. And guessing by that letter? I'd say he's pretty low on the list of luck."

William bit his lip and turned away. It was probably the healer in him, but he didn't want Prince Nico to die. It didn't seem fair somehow, that someone lost someone close to him (he assumed Bianca was a close friend, or a girlfriend), then had his father reject him all because of a curse that the evilest goddess had cast on him at birth.

"Ow! Ow, ow, ow, ow!"

"Lou Ellen! You okay?" William spun back around to see Lou Ellen lying on the ground, clutching her leg while Cecil looked torn between helping her and not knowing what to do. Red seeped through her hands and pooled on the ground. The sight seemed to make Cecil even more anxious and he ran to William, who jerked into motion and started gathering his supplies he brought with them just in case.

"William! Can you help her? Please?"

William grabbed his friend's desperately flying hands.

"Cecil. I can help her. Calm down. The best way you can help is if you calm down." He took a deep breath and nodded. William let go of him and ran the five feet to where Lou Ellen was now curled into a ball, holding her wounded leg tightly.

"Lou Ellen. Lou Ellen. I need you to let go of your leg," he told her firmly, yet not unkindly.

"It hurts," she whimpered.

"I know it does. Here, hold onto something else." He gestured to Cecil behind his back. Taking the initiative, Cecil scurried over to her.

"Here, Lou Ellen. Hold my hand instead." Lou Ellen shakily let go of the wound and grasped her friend's outstretched hand.

"This will hurt," William warned her. She made a small mewl of pain but nodded, squeezing Cecil's hand.

He quickly assessed the damage. The cut that he had managed to close earlier had reopened, and the first signs of infection had began. William doubted that he would have the cooperation from Apollo to help his friend for the second time that day, so he would have to resort to the human, non-god spawn way of healing. He rummaged through his bag, trying to find a needle to stitch the cut back up, but came up empty.

"Oh, no." He turned to Cecil, who visibly paled at his last comment. "I need a fire. Can you find a candle here?"

He nodded in confirmation and gently tugged her hand out of Lou Ellen's and quickly started digging through the drawers of the kitchen.

William took some antibiotics out of his bag and told Lou Ellen to swallow them just as Cecil called out, "Got it!" He speeded back to where Lou Ellen was, produced a match out of nowhere, struck it on the ground, and lit the wick. William held his dagger over the flame and let it heat up.

"You'll want to hold her hand for this part," William told Cecil grimly. He nodded and griped Lou Ellen's hand. Both the god spawn's knuckles turned white from the force of their hand-holding.

William licked his lips to wetten them, then took the dagger away from the flame and put it on Lou Ellen's ripped flesh. Over Lou Ellen's screams of pain, William could hear bones popping in Cecil's hand.

After her cries of agony faded away, William cut away part of one of the blankets and wrapped her leg up with it, taking care to do it more effectively then last time.

Lou Ellen released her death grip on Cecil's hand and it fell limply to the son of Hermes' side. "You need me to check that?" William asked tiredly. Today had been exhausting and the son of Apollo just wanted sleep.

"No, I'm fine," he glanced at Lou Ellen worriedly. "Will she be okay?"

William gazed at the sleeping third member of their mission. Lou Ellen had apparently passed out as soon as the healing had stopped. "As long as she doesn't walk for a few weeks and manages to keep the wound clean, she should be fine."

Cecil nodded, then yawned. "We should get some sleep. Sleep is necessary to recovery, right?" William nodded.

"'Night Cecil."

"'Night Will." William threw a plastic container filled with burn salve at him.

"Don't call me that," he muttered indignantly, but was only met with snores. He shook his head. Cecil had a switch, he swore. One minute he could be bouncing off the walls- quite literally that one time- and the next he could be so sound asleep that not even a marching band right next to his head could stir him (he tested it once).

William curled up on a second blanket Cecil pillaged from the castle rooms and tried to calm his mind. Right as he was drifting off, the thought of Nico, all alone in his tower, with nothing around save the three god spawns sleeping in his kitchen and the shadows that were slowly consuming him.

~O~

"C'mon Lou Ellen," Cecil urged his friend on, while William watched her leg, ready to stop immediately if there was any sign of her leg reopening. After ten days of bedrest, with Cecil around every second, refusing to leave her side, William finally decided to let her try to walk again.

Leaning heavily on Cecil, Lou Ellen half-shuffled, half-stumbled her way across the kitchen. With a face twisted in such determination, you would think she'd be able to walk through hell and back, her enemies falling back when they saw her, but instead, she only made it the length of the table before she had to stop and rest, leg trembling violently.

She growled. "I can do this, I can do this," she managed to push herself off the table and wrap her arms sideways around Cecil's neck- the latter of which grinned like a schoolgirl- and drag herself further.

"Lou Ellen. Enough," William didn't want his friend to hurt herself even more then she already was.

"No William, I can do this!"

"Lou Ellen," William strode in front her, blocking her from passing. "Enough for today. We can work more tomorrow."

She scowled. "Cecil?"

"Sorry Lou Ellen, but William knows more than both of us combined on this. If he says that it'd be safer for you to stop now and keep working later, then that's what we should do."

Lou Ellen raised one eyebrow. "What would be safest is if I wasn't a god spawn in the first place." She unwrapped her arms from Cecil's neck. "But some things we really can't control." She doubled over onto the table and began sliding back to the makeshift cot. "Have fun hanging out with William today, as he _clearly_ knows much more than I do."

"Lou Ellen! No! That's not what- Lou Ellen, c'mon!" Cecil turned to William. _Help!_ He mouthed at him. He simply shrugged _. I'm so glad I'm gay,_ he mouthed back. Cecil face palmed.

"I'm going to find more blankets," William said aloud to no one in particular, as Cecil was trying to hold a conversation with Lou Ellen, and Lou Ellen was pointedly ignoring him.

Walking up the path he went through every day since he came to the di Angelo palace, he trailed his hand along the weathered stone underneath. He had already become so used to the dark castle, it would feel so strange to leave it once Lou Ellen's leg healed. It would be great to stay here longer, and he wanted that, he really did want to stay here in this great castle made of dark stone and gloomy halls that had an unlit oil lamp at the end of each, clearly representing the light at the end of the tunnel. William really wanted to clean each and every tapestry, light the oil lamps, bring back the servants, but he knew he couldn't. Not only would he never know how to live like this- he knew he would constantly be making the simplest mistakes, but the Romans would destroy Camp Half-Blood, the only place he had ever felt safe after he had been kicked out of his childhood home. Only he and his friends knew how the Romans were planning on doing it, and he needed to get back before the attack in eleven days.

Not only that but this place, as amazing as it is, didn't feel his. He could imagine living here, slightly, but this castle, filled with family portraits of people he doesn't know, doesn't feel right. It felt like it belonged to Nico. Or maybe that was because of where he went every day.

As if just by thinking of him made him appear, William found himself at the door to Nico's room. As if in a trance, William stepped over the threshold and over to the bed. Pulling back the white see-through bed curtain, he stared down at the sleeping form of Prince Nico. William knelt down at the side of the bed, and swept the inky hair off of his face.

Nico's light, calm expression turned almost scared as the shadows began draining more of his life force, and he began thrashing in his coma. The first few times Nico did this while William visited, he made the mistake of trying to restrain him, thinking that Nico could give himself a concussion from the constant whipping around that seemed to happen every five minutes or so. A week ago, they seemed to happen every ten minutes.

After the convulsions stopped, William fixed his hair again, then began telling the unconscious boy about himself, holding nothing back. He told Nico about how he's worried that Lou Ellen won't be better in time for them to leave to stop the Romans from destroying his home, how he got claimed by Apollo in the most embarrassing way, and how he's worried that when Lou Ellen and Cecil finally decide to actually stop dancing around each other, he'll lose his two closest friends and be alone again.

Nico remained impassive the whole time, unless William counted when the shadows came and drained his time left living (William really didn't). Each time the shade came, William's healing powers could sense his life force draining away from him. When the light went away, his life was a little stronger, but it kept ebbing away whenever the dark came back.

 _Please_ , William found himself praying _, let his true love come. Don't let him die. Don't let such a brave boy die. Don't let the curse be fulfilled._

~O~

On the fourteenth and final day of William, Lou Ellen, and Cecil's stay at the di Angelo palace, William found himself wishing for more time. Not only for more time to stay at the castle, but more time then a week before Camp Jupiter attacked Camp Half-Blood, and definitely more time then the day of time left in Nico's life.

"William, you coming?" Lou Ellen's voice drifted through his thoughts, soft like she wished they had more time as well.

"Just a minute. Wait for me outside, I gotta-" he waved his hand uselessly in the air in a general direction to nowhere in particular. Lou Ellen's eyes softened.

"Yeah, take your time. Come on Cecil." Cecil threw his arm around Lou Ellen's shoulders, then froze for a half moment before Lou Ellen relaxed into him, leaning onto him for support, her leg almost completely healed but not quite, but if they wanted to get to Half-Blood in time, they had to bargain with time.

His brain didn't know where he was going to go, but his heart and feet did. Through the great hall, up the stone stairs, down the tens of corridors to arrive here. The place he managed to fool himself into believing that he'd never come to again after the twelfth day, fooling himself into believing that if he stopped then, he'd be able to keep himself from ever going to again. The place he always knew he would end up in. As he entered Prince Nico's room for what would be the last time, as two day from now would mark the first day of an empty room in an empty castle filled of forgotten memories, he steeled himself to say goodbye, apologize for something that's not his fault, and leave.

He tried to slow his steps as he walked to the bed, clutching these last moments tightly to his heart, treasuring each and every second before he left for good.

All too soon he reached the bed. For the last time he kneels down, for the last time he brushes Nico's bangs out of his face.

"I'm sorry," William whispered to the boy scheduled to die tomorrow. "I'm sorry I can't heal you. I'm sorry." Then, before he can stop himself, he leaned down and pressed his lips to Nico's forehead. "Goodbye," William murmured as he sat back on his heels and stood up, ready to leave to Camp Half-Blood and give the battle plans the Romans were going to be using to the battle strategizers so they can come up with a way to block it.

Halfway through the door, William took one last glance at the room that haunted his dreams. The bedside table with the lamp and the note, the dresser William respectfully didn't open, the bed with the white curtains and-

There was no excess light.

Nico never moved other then to breathe unless the light came.

The light wasn't coming.

Then why- _how_ \- was the figure that had laid prostrate on the bed for the two weeks William had been there stirring, moving?

William blinked once, hard. Nothing changed. He must be imagining things. William hesitantly tread over to the bed. Two chocolate brown eyes stared back at him. Oh gods, if William though Nico was impressive while he was unconscious, then Nico awake was drop dead gorgeous. His eyes, oh _gods_ , his _eyes!_ They were a rich, chocolatey brown color, with flecks of russet lining the cornea. They looked straight at him, and he knew that if he died now, he would die satisfied, knowing that he got to look at them and have them look back.

Nico looked at him doe eyed, but they quickly narrowed into slits. William felt his breath get caught in his throat. Oh gods, those eyes! Nico tensed, then pulled out a sword from nowhere and pushed William against a wall, the blade of his sword made out of- was that iron? digging into his throat.

"Tu chi sei?" The sword dug even harder into William's skin, any harder and it would pierce the skin. "Tu chi sei?" Nico repeated, eyes that were still rapturing William demanding an answer.

"Rispondetemi!" William licked his lips nervously. He had never thought as Nico as a danger while he was unconscious, but now that he was awake, he was beginning to wonder if that was a mistake.

"I'm William," he said slowly, trying not to jostle the sword digging into his Adam's apple. Slowly he lifted a hand, trying not to make any sudden movements. Nico studied the hand warily. William pointed to himself. "Will-i-am," he sounded out.

"Weel-ee-ahm," Nico repeated cautiously. "Sei Weel-ee-ahm?"

William nodded slightly, and the pressure on his neck lessened to some extent.

"E tu chi sei esattamente, Weel-ee-ahm?"

"What?" William was lost. Really, truly lost. All he knew was that a prince (with incredibly beautiful eyes) had a sword to his throat demanding answers for a question he didn't know.

Nico squinted at him. "Cosa stai facendo qui?"

William shifted uncomfortably under the blade. "I don't know what you are saying," he said slowly, hoping to convey the message. "But we should go. Gaea and her forces-" William was cut off by the sword digging further into his neck then ever, he could feel the thin line of blood drawn.

"Gaea? Si lavora per Gaea?" Distrust was written deep in his eyes. _Stupid, stupid! If you're trying to get someone to trust you with a language barrier, don't go around saying the enemy's name!_

Using as little motion as possible, William shook his head no. "Gaea… no. Gods… yes," he nodded slightly at gods. "Apollo," William said, striking an idea. "Apollo, me."

"Sei Apollo?" The sword didn't move. "Sei Weel-ee-ahm o Apollo?"

"Um, William?" Nico tilted his head.

"Quindi non sei Apollo?" Nico's eyes widened in realization. William forced himself to stay in the moment and not get caught up in those eyes. "È prole di Apollo?"

"Uh, yes?" Nico's shoulders loosened slightly.

"Mezzosangue o Jupiter?"

William didn't really know what Mezzosangue was, but in context he knew what he was being asked. "Mezzosangue," he answered firmly. Nico lowered his sword, though he was still in a defensive position.

"Perché sei qui?" William blinked. Nico huffed in annoyance, which was a sentiment William shared about this language barrier. "Prechi sei tu," Nico pointed at William at _tu,_ so he assumed that meant him. "Facendo qui?" He swung his arms around, making William duck out of the way of Nico's sword.

"Friend hurt," William pantomimed a hurt leg. Nico studied his legs, and William felt a little too much like cattle being assessed to see how much he'd go for on the market.

"No," Nico decided. "Non si è tu male." Nico pointed at William's perfectly fine legs and shook his head.

William pointed outside of the castle. "Friend." A thought struck him. "Oh!" He walked over to the bed and pointed at the note. He twitched his hand in the _come here_ sign. Cautiously, Nico approached. When he saw the note, he began to read. William took this time to study the boy he had awoken somehow. _Boy he had awoken_. Boy _he_ had awoken. Oh. True love. No way. _No way can I be the true love of someone if he never even saw me before_. Of the past, present, or future. Oh. _Oh_.

Nico jerked up and faced William, face blushing like a strawberry. They had both come to the same realization. _True love._

"Um, friends." William pointed outside again. Nico nodded, and sheathed his sword on his belt, another thing he hadn't noticed until now. Nico gestured for William to go with a wave of his hand. Walking down the steps with someone for the first time in two weeks, William and Nico walked in silence. William barely heard Nico's footsteps on the stone steps, and when they entered on of the halls, he only just heard them halt. He turned back to Nico, confused as to why they stopped, when he saw Nico rapt in a dust covered tapestry. He gazed at the piece with such an open face, letting William see and communicate with him fully for the first time.

It was only when a tear carved a path down Nico's face as he wipe the thick layer of dust off of one corner that William intervened.

"Nico," he called gently to the grief stricken boy only now realizing he had something to grieve for. Nico turned to him, eyes wide. Then he grit his teeth and angrily wiped the tear and emotion off of his face, and pushed passed William into the next hall.

"Nico!" William bit his lip and hurried after him.

He caught up to Nico just as he was about to enter the great hall. "Nico."

The pitch-haired boy stiffened his shoulders as the blond son of Apollo called to him. William didn't try to say anything though, just walked side by side with the boy so that every now and then their hands would brush against each other so Nico would know he's not alone.

When they got the the gates of the palace William froze. How was he supposed to explain this to Lou Ellen and Cecil? He barely understood it himself!

"Weel?" A familiar voice asked. Wait, how did Nico's voice become so familiar within minutes of hearing it? "Tutto bene, Weel?" William blinked at Nico. Normally he hated it when people called him Will. Why was it that when Nico called him that, he didn't mind so much? Actually, why did he enjoy it when Nico said his name?

William smiled weakly at him before nodding. He wasn't completely sure what Nico asked, but he was ready to face his friends. He and Nico walked out into the sunlight.

"There you are William! I was beginning to won-" Cecil's voice stopped dead as he saw Nico. "But-but that's-" he couldn't seem to find the words to finish his sentence. Lou Ellen gaped like a fish out of water as she stared at the prince of Underworldia.

"Guys, meet Nico. Nico, Cecil and Lou Ellen," he told him, pointing at them when he said their name. "Nico speaks a different langauge so…" the prince shifted awkwardly, clearly uneasy about how little he understood about the conversation going on around him.

His two friends stared at William and Nico in shock. Then Lou Ellen cleared her throat. "Presumo che si parla l'antica lingua?" Nico's mouth opened slightly.

"Sì, sì! Come lo sai?" Lou Ellen limped over to Nico and had an intense discussion, Lou Ellen stumbling over her words slightly, but Nico seemed to get the gist of what she was saying. Nico seemed reluctant to try something, but Lou Ellen kept making gestures at towards William, and Nico eventually nodded. Lou Ellen reached into her pocket and pulled out what seemed to be a blush container thingy, or whatever they're called. Opening it, she blew a silvery powder into Nico's face.

"Lou Ellen! What did you-" William protested, but Nico coughed and cut him off. Then turned to him and locked eyes with him. The deep brown of his eyes seemed to swallow whatever it was William was going to say out of his mind. William felt as if he was drowning in Nico's eyes, and for the first time, he understood that song about what kills him makes him feels alive, because now he truly understood what living feels like, before he was just surviving, but this? This was living.

Nico smirked. "Like what you see, Weel?" He asked in a heavy accent. William's mouth dropped.

"How- what- I-" Nico's smirk grew at William's stumbling words. Lou Ellen put him out of his misery.

"It's a special concoction I made. It allows someone to instantly understand a language."

"No way! Why were you holding out on me Lou Ellen? Do you know how useful this would've been in my Spanish class?" Cecil complained to her, which sent them squabbling about misusing magic. It astonished William really, how they could go from best friends to a pair of four year olds fighting over a toy.

A soft tugging on William's hand brought his mind out of his two best friends' antics. Nico was gently pulling him away from the clearing in front of the gates, and off the side where a withered garden was. After a significant silence with neither of them starting a conversation, Nico pursed his lips together and ducked his head. His shoulders slumped and he began to turn away.

 _Quick, you idiot!_ William's mind screamed at him. _Say something!_ "Gay marriage is now legal in all fifty states," he blurted out. _What was_ that? _You call that a good ice breaker? What is the_ matter _with you?_

Nico blinked at him. "Che cos- I mean, what?"

"Uh, notthatIwasimplyinganythingIjustwantedyoutoknow." Nico stared at William like he grew a third arm.

A disbelieving smile spread across Nico's face. "You are truly one of a kind, Weel." He glanced down at his barefeet, the smile still in place.

The two boys sat down with their backs against one of the rusted fences. They sat in comfortable silence until William broke it.

"So, do you want to talk about the thing?"

Nico closed his eyes and tilted his head back. "What is there to talk about?"

William turned to him in disbelief. "'What's there to talk about?' What about the fact that I kissed you and woke up, something only your true love could do?"

Nico grimaced. "Yes, about that. So how long have you been at this castle?"

"Two weeks, and I visited you everyday, except for the last three days besides this one."

Nico nodded. "So you have seen me, but only my unconscious form, and I have never seen you or talked to you." He raised an eyebrow. "Yet you go and kiss me? Do you see the the complication, Weel?"

William's blood rushed to his cheeks. "It was on the forehead! And it was more of a 'I'm sorry I couldn't find a way to make sure you don't die' than a 'I love you' kiss."

Some the tension in Nico's shoulders left. He rested his head on William's knee, facing away from him, so William almost didn't hear the next thing Nico said.

"Do you think it could be a 'I love you' kiss someday?"

William smiled at the back of Nico's head. "I think it will be. Someday."

 _Someday._

 **Okay, since that ending** _ **sucks**_ **(I was on a time limit, and the night before it was due I stayed up til one finishing it) I might,** _ **might**_ **make an alternitive ending to this where they go off and fight Gaea. If I'm asked nicely. Anyway, probably no one wants to hear this but these were my names in the story I wrote for LA.**

 **Nico = Alessio**

 **Will = William**

 **Bianca/Bia = Anastazie/Stazie**

 **Hades = Sedah**

 **Underworldia = Malavita**

 **Lou Ellen = Lou (I was tired, okay?)**

 **Cecil = Cecilia**

 **Thalia = Ailah**

 **Percy = I can't type this again because it hurts my heart but the narrator in TSOA**


End file.
